First Manga Appearance: Chapter 34First Anime Appearance: Episode 1Name Meaning: Inu=Dog zuka=A small hill, Kiba="Fang", Aka=Red maru=Boys nameCharacter Study: Sometimes aloof and hot-tempered, Kiba provided Naruto his first challenge in the Chuunin Exam. Kiba lost but grew to respect Naruto from the point on, offering to help him return Sasuke to the village. Over the years both Kiba and Akamaru would grow in both skills and size.

Kiba Inuzuka is a member of Team 8, alongside Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata, watched over by Yuuhi Kurenai. He is rarely seen, if ever, without his lifelong companion, Akamaru.

The Inuzuka family have close relations with canines. They share some traits with them too, as indicated by Kiba’s unique sense of smell. Because of this ability, he forms an integral part of Team 8’s tracking specialty with Hinata’s vision and Shino’s homing abilities. Akamaru is also sensitive to chakra, adding another edge to their detection skills. It was Akamaru’s sensitivity that first alerted them to danger when the team had a close brush with the Sand siblings in the Chuunin exam, where they witnessed a small demonstration of Gaara’s fearsome power. Akamaru literally hid as Gaara wiped out a trio of Rain participants single-handedly. Luckily, they remained undiscovered as Gaara looked for more targets and finally calmed down.

Due to the nature of the Chuunin exams, all three were entered into the preliminaries to half the number of winners. Kiba was drawn against Naruto Uzumaki, to both their confidence. Kiba remembered how poor Naruto was in the academy. Facing Naruto with Akamaru by his side he felt a win was a sure thing. Despite flooring Naruto with a beast mimicking style of Taijutsu that made him bleed from the mouth, Naruto rose. Kiba then created a cloud of smoke and used the lack of sight along with Akamaru to keep the advantage to himself. However, Naruto once again stole the advantage back and used a combination of Kage Bunshin and Henge to fool Kiba and capture Akamaru. Insulted, Kiba fed Akamaru a pill that turns his fur red and increases his strength. The two then used a combination technique that makes them both into feral-looking versions of Kiba that boast enhanced speed and strength, double-teaming Naruto with wild scratches and bites, culiminating into a spinning drill attack. Kiba’s confidence only increased after the attack, causing him to taunt that he would be more likely to be Hokage before Naruto.

However, Naruto’s determination caused him to stand again. Irritated, Kiba and Akamaru proceeded to shred him up even more, throwing more smoke bombs to prevent his escape. However, they halted their assault as Naruto masked himself as one of them. Kiba’s sense of smell proved superior, however, causing him to lash out at the fake. However, the hit clone changed into Akamaru. Instantly, Kiba slammed an even more savage hit into the other, who also slide away and transformed into Akamaru. The first Akamaru then transformed back into Naruto and attacked Kiba, now Akamaru was out of the match entirely thanks to Kiba.

Kiba resumed his solo assault, becoming fiercer and drawing more blood as revenge for making him hit his own dog, wounding Naruto and severely turning the tide of the match in his own favor. Naruto repeatedly threatened a new move, but Kiba would rush in to finish him off before he can by slipping in for an attack on his blind side. However, Naruto’s nervousness caused him to lose control of his bodily functions inadvertently. Kiba is forced to stagger back, revolted at the smell from his ultra-sensitive nose. Naruto then put him away with an imitation of Sasuke’s own copy of Lee, eliminating Kiba.

Later, Kiba attended the finals as a spectator, watching over Hinata due to her injuries from her battle with Neji. Her condition worsened, causing an ANBU member to heal her. As Kiba went to thank him, Akamaru began barking, recognizing the ANBU member as someone they had met before. Before Akamaru could be any more specific about his identity, the ANBU member silenced them both to prevent them revealing he was Kabuto. They remained out cold for the duration of the failed invasion.

Kiba was later added to an impromptu team in a desperation mission to retrieve Sasuke, with him and Akamaru leading the way for their tracking abilities. During the mission, he ended up taking on Sakon, the strongest of Orochimaru’s active bodyguards. Debuting a new technique that transformed himself and Akamaru into a gigantic two-headed lupine beast, he landed a direct hit on Sakon, literally splitting him in half. However, thanks to the power bestowed on Sakon that allowed him to attack in tandem with his conjoined brother, Ukon, they survived and continued to attack. Summoning an equally large gate as a barrier, which they referred to as "Orochimaru’s strongest defense", they were surprised when even though it stopped the beast, it had been dented. Worse still, Akamaru had taken the worst damage, leaving Kiba without a partner.

Things declined again when Ukon’s demonic face sprouted from Kiba’s shoulder, as he explained their power to manipulate flesh and that while he had merged into Kiba, he would simply tear him apart at a cellular level. In desperation, Kiba drove his kunai into his own abdomen, realizing that sharing the same body would cause damage to Ukon too, forcing him out and allowing Kiba to take Akamaru to escape. The twins pursued Kiba until they cornered him, where assistance luckily arrived in the form of another double-team from Kankurou, who saved Kiba’s life by trapping Ukon (with Sakon in his body) inside a puppet and impaling him. Both Kiba and Akamaru would recover fully from their wounds, mostly due to the care of Kiba’s sister, Hana, an expert in dog care.

Kiba would feature in a number of anime-exclusive episodes, living up to his usual character as a hot-headed and energetic foil for Naruto. One episode covered his relationship with Akamaru, who had been mutated by a bio-attack of Konoha, the results of which made him much larger in size and more savage. Although the events of the manga occurred first, this would prove ironic as his first appearance in part 2 showed Akamaru to have grown to around 5 times his previous size, enough for Kiba to ride comfortably on his back. Aside from his re-introduction that showed their changes in appearance, neither Kiba nor Akamaru have had another appearance in the manga to date, much to the annoyance of fans of Team 8, which has been proven to be the most underused team in canon.

Inuzuka Kiba Timeline

BSS: Before Series StartASS: After Series Start(All dates approximate - There is no official comprehensive timeline)